2017 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 399-404
Purpose：We observed the prevalence of aspiration pneumonia in psychiatric hospital inpatients and responded only to those patients with dysphagia.
Objective：From 2005 to 2015, there were a total of 7,286 inpatients in the Hinaga General Center for Mental Care.
Results：We observed that：1）40％ of inpatients were over 65 years of age, and that this rate has been steadily increasing in recent years. 2）The total number of pneumonia onset cases was 148（male to female ratio 2：1, over 65 years 75％）. The incidence of total pneumonia for the 10-year periods was about 2.0％. The number of aspiration pneumonia onset cases was 41（28％）. 3）The total number of inpatients with pneumonia was 73（average age at initial stage 70±10 years）. The number of multiple onset cases of pneumonia was 31（42％）. 4）After medical intervention for patients with dysphagia, the number of onset cases decreased.
Conclusion：It was inferred that aspiration pneumonia was mostly diagnosed as pneumonia, and that aspiration pneumonia is an important issue to be addressed among psychiatric hospital inpatients.
